Nostr Web Client

VPN users should probably not be using public relays, vpns will likely banned eventually due to spammers

VPN use is a good practice for nostr imo for regular people to connect to regular relays if they don't want to leak their IP. in your design when a spammer uses the same vpn IP with other legit users, all the people that uses that vpn IP gets banned in many relays. thats not ideal.

on nostr if a user is banned he or she does not know what is happening if the client is not letting him know things are bad, and when he is not getting any reaction to posts he may quit. a user banned in many relays will think this sucks, i should go back to twitter.

nostr:note1735wq65r6fd5hqkau03w5u5ecn58e8jdjxmu370edyzmlu3j86nqdcshpk

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Discussion

jb55 1y ago

If spammers use vpns to try to get around ip blocks the vpn will be banned, i don’t know what to say. I don’t understand why people are surprised or upset about this.

someone 1y ago

banned by relays one by one in time and still not banned in some, or banned by many relays at the same time. thats the difference i am talking about. when you start sending notes to ban IPs and relays start to listen to those, with so much political powers like you it is a slippery slope 😅

jb55 1y ago

then use a relay that promises to not ip ban, and watch if fill with spam and die.

Otherwise just use a paid relay or your own.

Lady Mae - Growth Teacher 1y ago

could I ask how is this solution different from centralised platform? we go for a one solution of banning people due to the act of small group? this go against the very principle we are fighting for here on nostr. Is it just me that recommending people to spin up their own relay as if every average folk is as techy as those who run/own relay is hindering people to use nostr? As clever as you are I am certain you understand the sentiments of other people here. I am sure you will find a better way. I don't agree that banning VPN users because spammers could use the same IP is not logical to me. It is like saying that hackers are thieves, techy and bad. Does this mean all techy people are hackers and bad? ☺️

jb55 1y ago

I could shut down the damus relay today, is that censorship? no, you would just use other relays.

Lady Mae - Growth Teacher 1y ago

It makes sense if only one relay is down. Am I misreading your note? It mentioned that technically speaking if you broadcast the IP which you block listed (as spammers) to other relays, inevitably, those relays may block that IP too. In a nutshell, this method is not as simple as shutting one relay. But it means other users cannot use other relays after it receives your broadcast. However, I maybe misunderstanding it. Don't get me wrong, 💯 agree of getting rid of the spammers. I am only suggesting is the method above the only way? I'll leave this thought to you, the expert. 👌☺️

Mazin 1y ago

I get your concern about multiple relays sharing block lists - not sure if it’s really preventable but I understand.

Are you not doing any IP rate limiting on nos.lol? Only pubkey/content/report based? I know you request PoW from some new pubkeys too? Do they ever provide it?

Curious how much spam you’re seeing etc

someone 1y ago

on nos.lol no IP rate limiting. only rate limiting for pubk. but if fresh pubkeys are too many coming from an IP, IP gets banned.

reports are only checked on nostr.mom.

there are wikifreedia pages for those if anyone is interested in what is going on in the relays.

i don't know if pow is provisioned at all. i don't read logs 99% of the time. i doubt anyone put the effort to provide pow. but if pow was popular it could be overriding many algorithms for sure. i could allow many notes if they came with pow.

i didn't see many "replyguy on nos.lol" kind of notes. my relays probably handled it fine. i don't even count spams. i am very lazy compared to you 🤭

Mazin 1y ago

Always appreciate you, thanks for the answers. Seems like you have a pretty good solution going at least. So temp IP blocks only when many fresh pubkeys coming from one address. Could still cause issues for VPN users as you pointed out but at least better targeted.

Our problem is we don’t have any IP/network info on our aggregator so we have to make decisions based on only the events. I think the new system will work though.

someone 1y ago

yes aggregators may benefit from that but banning an ip in an aggregator does not make sense. the note is coming from somewhere else! 🤔

Mazin 1y ago

Yes we don’t have IPs at all! It’s all event based analysis.

someone 1y ago

interesting pow app

https://www.getwired.app/